Peaceful
by of-the-tree-of-knowledge
Summary: One shot. Sirius' somewhat unexpectedly feminine views on the birth of Harry.


**A/N This one was just bursting to be written, so I downed tools on the revision and just wrote it. Sorry about the mistakes, was in a bit of a rush. Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the things you recognise. **

The piece of parchment that comes through the floo network is all the excuse you need to get up from your desk in the stuffy office, and walk out of the front door. You say something about an emergency to your boss, when he demands to know why you are leaving before the work day is over. He asks questions, but you don't answer because there is somewhere that you have to be.

You run down the halls, people staring at you as you rush past, but you don't care, because there is somewhere that you have to be, and someone that is waiting to meet you. And to be honest, you cannot wait to meet them.

The queue to apparate in the special zone is ridiculous, so you get in the lift and come out on the muggle street. Half-heartedly, you look over your shoulder and check that no one is watching, but you couldn't care less because you are in a rush, and at this moment in time, you aren't waiting for anybody. The pop as you disappear and then reappear in a village miles away from where you were a few seconds before is louder than you remember, but you think that it must be because you view things in a different way now. Things are different for you from now on.

You can't run up the village lane to the little cottage on the left hand side because it will attract too much attention, so you walk briskly, a huge smile that you are unable to hide spread across your face. You finally reach the gate of your destination, and practically take it off its hinges in your haste to enter. You'll come back and fix that later, you tell yourself.

You are about to knock on the door when it flies open from the inside to reveal your best friend, with the biggest smile you have ever seen on his face. His eyes are a little red, perhaps from crying, his hair is ten times more of a state than ever, and he looks exhausted, but he had never been more excited to see you. You are barely in the front door before he throws his arms around you in the tightest, most meaningful hug you have ever had, and say to you quietly, "I'm a father Padfoot!"

You return the hug just as fiercely, and then he realises you, and leads you up the stairs. Suddenly, you are nervous. As you approach the room that you have been in hundreds of times before, helping them move in, fixing a broken shelf, saving Lily from a spider, you are scared about what waits inside. Then the excitement takes over, and you are almost walking faster than James to get into that room.

Too slowly for your liking, James pushes open the door that was pulled to, and you get your first look. Lily is sat up in the middle of the bed, surrounded by pillows, and safely nestled in her arms in a bundle of blankets, just a mop of black hair visible.

Lily looks up at you, beaming as well, and you smile the biggest smile you have in you right back at her.

"Congratulations Lils," you say, as you pause slightly at the end of the bed. James goes around and sits on the edge of the bed, and Lily hands the little bundle of pink skin and black hair to him.

You see the baby's face for the first time, and you see pure James. You look at the scene before you, James holding his baby, Lily stroking his arm, and you think for the first time that perhaps you are missing something. Your indifference towards fatherhood has now gone; you want to be a father one day.

"Do you want to hold him?" James asks.

"A Prongs Junior?" you ask, avoiding the original question. You want to hold him, you really, really do, but you really, really, really do not want to break him.

"Yep," James tells you, "Harry James Potter."

You smile even bigger, and hold back the retort that James had to get his name in their somewhere. There would be a whole lifetime to tease him about that.

Then, James makes the decision for you, and is coming towards you with this bundle of blankets. The closer he gets, the clearer you can see the steady rise and fall of Baby Harry's chest, and you find yourself unable to resist carefully reaching out and taking the small baby into your arms. You ask if you're doing it right, and James and Lily both tell you that you are. He is surprisingly light, you discover, and even though he doesn't smell exactly how you imagined a new baby would smell, you still think that this baby is the closest thing to perfect you will ever see. You thank Merlin that you did not say that out loud, because then James would tease you forever for sounding gay.

"What do you think?" James asks. You answer, but don't look away from Harry.

"I think you've done a proper good job," you tell your best friend.

"Sirius," Lily says, and you notice that she doesn't sound at all tired. As she spoke to you directly, you look away from the sleeping baby's face and look up at her. She and James are holding hands, and you wish that you had a camera, if only to capture fanatically ecstatic look on James' face. "We were wondering if you would be Harry's Godfather?"

It takes a moment for these words to process. You look between the couple sat on the bed, and between the baby in your arms, and the love that you feel from them all makes your eyes well up a little bit. You just nod, and say "Yeah sure," in the manliest way you can, and then you thank them.

James gets u and pats you on the back, and Lily continues to smile. But this smile is different, and one you know well; one of understanding.

Harry snuggles slightly more into your chest, and you turn to the window so that the other two do not see the single tear glide down your cheek. Harry moves his head against your arm, getting himself comfortable. For the first time in years, you forget about the dangerous and hostile world you live in, about the battles that still need to be fought, and about the people that will no doubt be lost along the way, and you concentrate on the child in your arms, and exactly how peaceful he looks there.

**A/N: Please read and review ****I will reply to every review :) ****Also, if you want to follow me on twitter I'm **_**ToKnowledge **_


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